Claustrum Chap. 7
Mathew Hamm

 

Prison within

Johnathan woke, and rubbed the back of his head. The back of his head ached a bit, and as he rubbed it, he felt a bit soar. The room he was in was in total darkness. He tried to look around but with out success.
His thoughts wondered of to the last he remembered, trying to make sense of the whole situation, but with out success.
He pulled him self and leaned against the wall, the ground was wet and cold, he could hear water running somewhere, and a screech from a nearby rat. He sat in a fetal position, then placed his head down on his forearms and fell sleep again.
�cling, taka, taka, taka, clank� the sound of a large metal door sliding on metalic raisl was herd. John opened his eyes and looked up, his eyes tried to focus in the darkness, but he could not, he remembered at times when he was a kid, how he would look for the darkness place in his home and sit there, playing in the dark, and now here he was, in total darkness, he could place his hands an inch from his face and could not see it.
�Who is there?!� He cried out, but no response came.
After a while of trying to get a perspective within the room, he stood, and dragging his feet on the ground and keeping one hand on the wall, he walked around the whole room. This only helped to affirm his suspicions, he was alone in a small room, a cell, only one door and in complete darkness. After a while he grew tired of inspecting the room, he realized that on the ground, from one of the walls to the middle of the room there was a stream of water that ran in a inch thick channel, then it disappeared into a small drain, he learned all these by feeling around the floor of the room.
He placed his finger over the small hole where the water ran out and waited patiently, after a few minutes there was enough water accumulated to take a small sip, then he would start all over again, this he did a few times until he had satisfied his thirst.
The hours went by, and his patience grew short, he could not hear anyone or anything around him, his eyes tired of the darkness within the cell.
�Hello? Can anyone hear me?!� John cried out once again, and again there was no reply. He returned to the center of the room, looking for his watering hole, and place his finger once more over the tiny hole, this time, there was no water, he held his finger over the hole for a few hours, but nothing accumulated there. He shortly gave up, and sat back down against the wall.
Madness roamed within the cell, John believed he was going insane, after what he thought was a few days of being down in this cell, no one to talk to, no water or food to eat, he was getting weak, his mind even weaker, he mocked at the idea of being in-prisoned within a prison. To him it was all ironic.
He remembered something of the old prisons, where prisoners where kept in isolation, but this was torture, his mind wondered of and he once again fell asleep.
When he woke, he rubbed his chin, and felt a beard, a beard? Even a beard grows in Claustrum? How long how I been locked in here? He thought.
He focused on stories and other things to keep his mind occupied, his eyes he now kept closed, there was no sense on opening them, every time he did, he focused on strange silhouettes his mind was now playing tricks on him, this freaked him out lately.
Must not loose my mind, must keep mind active, he thought. Then he began talking in a whisper of stories that he had remembered from his child hood days.
He was getting weak, the lack of food was getting to him, the only thing he had to his advantage was the water that constantly flowed in and out of the room. How long, how long was all that his mind kept repeating.
Once again he lost consciousness, but this time it was not because of a blow to the head, or the lack of sleep, he was loosing a battle, he had given up hope, for him all was lost.
Must not fall asleep, must... he thought, but his mind lost once again, he gave in to it.
The sound of music came to John�s ear, Am I dead? The music, how beautiful, of God, there is an after life after all, He laid there his thoughts taking over his mind, he dared not move and inch of his body, he just listened to the beautiful music.
The music stopped and he herd someone walking up to him, Whats going to happen? Should I open my eyes? I dare not! He then felt a cool hand over his forehead, then on his checks, this was not the hand of the ruler of hell, he thought, his mind began to relax and he began to breathe a little easier.
He herd the steps walking away, and tried to open his eyes to see this person, but the light was so bright that he could not, all he could do was lay there, he did not even have the strength to move his legs or arms and this worried him.
I-I feel strange, my body does not respond, I am sure I am dead, he thought.
He dose off, here and there he would wake and hear the lovely music, or feel that someone was next to him, but still he could not open his eyes to see, or move. He tried speak, but this too was to hard.
There was a time when he felt that someone was washing his body, then he was able to mutter something, this person leaned over to him and said �sh, sh, sh, save your strength, you are getting better� Johnathan, was moved, that voice that he had herd, so many times, in a lowly tone, oh how beautiful was this voice.
John was awakened by a cool cloth over his face, he felt the water dripping down the side of his face and the cloth cleaned his checks and eyes lids, when this happened, he could open one of his eyes, the torch light told him that it was dark out, he blinked then opened his eye again, this time he had his eye opened and tried to focus it on the person before him, but he could not.
�Give it some time, you will regain your sight� she said, and again that voice, soothed John and he did as he was told.
After a couple of days, John could open both of his eyes and look about the room, everything was still a blur to him, but he was glad that he was gaining his sight. �Well I am glad that you can keep both eyes opened for this long� John looked over to where the voice was coming from and tried to focus on the voice, yet he could not.
�Can you try to talk?� she asked.
John moved his mouth and tried to talk but nothing came. Then the woman walked up to the bed and graved John�s jaw and began massaging the muscles there, then she did the rest of his body. She picked up and arm, and would twist and bend, smack, and wiggled the fingers and turn and message every part of his body.
�We have to rebuild the muscle here� she explained.
I cant, my body is useless, he thought.
The next day John woke and this time he was able to get words out of his mouth. The first thing to come out of his mouth was �How long?�.
The woman chuckled and nodded her head �Well you were in the dungeon for a couple of weeks, then you have been here with me for almost five days�
John gave a small nod to the answer she had given. Then closed his eyes. Almost three weeks since he was in the study. His mind wondered again to everything that had happened and he fell sleep.
The next day John could finally talk and his vision came to him clearly, now the woman sat here next to his bed and he felt like a hopeless old man being taken cared of. He turned his head a little so that he could see her, she sat on a chair and her head to one side, she was asleep.
John looked her over, to him, she was beautiful, her dark hair, shiny, long and wavy. Her light brown skin was the softest John had ever seen. She then woke and noticed that he was staring at her, she graved the blanket that laid over her lap and covered her self with it.
�Are you better today?� she asked.
Johnathan nodded �Yes, much better, thanks to you� he exclaimed.
�Well, for a moment there I thought that you was not going to make it�
�There was a time, that I thought I died� he answered.
�Really?� She chuckled at the comment
�Oh, yea, for a moment there I believed in the after life, and I thought I was in a place of Judgment� he explained.
But then this would be heaven for me, he thought looking at the woman.
�How so?�
�Well when I awoke, I herd your voice, and I thought that this could not be hell, and as far as heaven was I never believed in it, therefore, I could not enter, and your voice, such a heavenly voice� John said almost in a whisper.
She placed one of her fingers over his mouth, �you must not speak of heaven or hell here, it is forbidden� she said.
I remember that from one of the banners, he thought.
�But why?�
�Its to long and complicated to explain, right now, but you will learn it, eventually�, she answered. �you are more then likely going to spend another week in this room, trying to learn how to crawl and walk, all over again�
�What happened to me? All I remember was...darkness?� John asked.
�The guardian in the study put you to sleep�
�Put me to sleep?, what do you mean?�
�Yes, here in Claustrum, laws of virtuality and reality are mixed, he simply knew where to touch you, of course putting you to sleep� She explained.
�So all he had to do was touch me in a spot where only he knew where and that was it?�
�Pretty much� she answered shaking one shoulder.
�Why was I left in the cell for so long? With out food? Or someone to visit me?�
�It was my brothers plan to kill you, not only to teach others a lesson, but to punish you for offending him, the way you did�
Well thats a first, he thought.
�Your brother?� John asked as his heart skipped a beat, at the thought that Master Brum was this beautiful womans brother, he felt betrayed.
�Yes Master Brum is my brother, and I am Lady Lizbeth, daughter of Lord Gillium�
I don�t get it, he thought.
�But...How? How is your whole family in prison?�
�My father is the one serving time, and my brother and I are jacked into Claustrum voluntarily, or more by my fathers wishes�
�You mean to tell me that you are not inmates, here?
�My father is very wealthy in the real world and he wanted us to come here and be with him, so we pay to be here, and your rules do not apply to us�
�I see, are there many characters like you in Claustrum?�
�There is quite a few of us, but, inmates do not know who we are�
�How did you come to find out about me?�
�My brother and father talked about you and what you had done to him, he told father that you were in a dungeon and more than likely dead from starvation, father was angered by my brothers foolishness, for to kill a man here would mean that he too, would have to do time here, and father did not want my brother spending more time here then needed.�
�How long is your fathers sentence for?�
�He has another year, then we will be going back to the real world�
�I see, and how did you come to be in charge of me?�
�Father begged me to bring you back, if you would have died, the guardian would have reported your death to the Deities and my brother would have been punished�
�But your brother is evil, he treats the men here like dirt, all I did was stand up to him�
�He only does this when father is away, and father will punish him, you don't have to worry about him pushing you or anyone around anymore�
�Lets try to get you moving, you need to build up your strength here again�
After a few days John was able to walk around for him self, he no longer needed the assistance of Lady Lizbeth, however she spent much of the time with him, making sure he had everything that he needed.
Johnathan returned to the study, as he walked in the room he glanced around, there in the end table sat the same guard with the same clothing and in the same posture, he gave John a look of recognition then returned to his book.
Well only a computerized human could do that, he thought.
John walked over to a book shelf and picked up a book with out even looking at the title, he knew that there was no sense, since all the books within the room were the same.
Another week passed quickly and John read the book, patiently and vigorously. There was another man there that reminded him of his own attitude when he had first walked into this room and a small grin appeared on his face.
�I advice you do as your told, with out questions, buddy, you don�t need to be here longer than needed� he told the man as he winked at him.
Finally he was ready for the guards questionnaire, he called up on the guard and told him that he was ready to be questioned by him. The guard stood and walked over to one side of the room, he opened a small door that went into a closet like room and asked John to walk in and sit, he then closed the door and walked to the side of this and sat him self down.
After a short while the questions began and John answered each question to the satisfaction of the guard. The door was opened and the guard asked for John to step out, he did and followed the guard.
He walked passed the room that over three weeks ago, he had wondered about and looked within it.
The room, like just about every other room in the House of Rest was dark, and it seemed more like a large hall that continued to another room. The guard gestured for him to walk in the room and guided him to a barbers chair.
�Do you wish to alter your looks Mr Baird?� The guard asked.
How is he thinking to alter my appearance? �Hum�, then he nodded positively.
The guard called out �Kriolle!� and a young woman walked in the room carrying a large platter, she put it down on the table next to the place where John sat.
�She will do as you wish� said the guard and walked off.
John looked at the small woman and said �So, how do we do this?�
I hope this is not another painful experience, he thought.
The woman picked up a towel and place it over his face, the heat of it felt good to John, he relaxed, she messaged his whole face, ears, nose and the chin. She then pulled the towel of the face.
John looked in the mirror Nothing has changed, he thought as he turned his face from side to side.
�You can push, pull or twist and it will stay that way� she explained.
Johnathan graved the top of his ear and pulled Holy crap she�s right, then he pulled the other ear Well I am an elf now, he chuckled at the thought.
After a while he was dissatisfied with his whole face, and nothing seem to be getting better, instead it seemed that the more he pushed or pulled the more deformed he became.
�Can you fix this?� he asked the woman with an embarrassed face.
She nodded and placed the towel over his whole face again, and began messaging his head all over once more, then she pulled the towel of, and to his amazement, his face was back to the original form.
�Thats a good trick� he said to the woman with a smile.
He then pulled the skin between his left ear and his left eye and pulled back, giving his eye a slanted, oriental look to it; then he did the same with his other ear. He then pulled his chin and flattened his ears a little more, then he made his mouth a little bigger and flattened his nose a little more.
�What about colors? Can I change hair color? Skin color?� he asked.
The more I change the less chance I have of someone recognizing me, he thought.
Kriolle brought a small container that had pills of every color imaginable. �This will turn your hair the color of the pill that you take�
�hum� to many colors to choose from, let pick something different, he thought as he reached in and picked up a light gray pill.
He took the pill, and the color of every hair in his body turned to this light gray, not a gray from aging, but a darker tone, he was pleased, For sure, no one will recognize me now, he thought.
Once more kriolle brought another container, this too had pills in it, but not as many as the first �these will change your skin color� she said.
Should I? Oh what the hell!, he thought shaking his shoulders, then he picked one that was that of a gray-blueish color, and took it.
There before the mirror, sat a man that could not recognize him self, with light gray-blueish skin and light gray hair, This is good, he thought No one will recognize me.

 

 

Copyright © 2009 Mathew Hamm
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